Annex Cloud delivers the only fully integrated Advocate Marketing and Customer Loyalty platform. Our blog is your source for news, trends, and expert insights into the world of customer loyalty, advocate marketing, and more.

The holidays are a time to give back and reflect on what went right (um, and wrong) this year. During this convivial time, we’d like to take a minute to appreciate the ways in which companies gave back to customers via brand advocacy and customer loyalty this year.

The reward of doing so isn’t just the warm feeling you get from making people happy. Loyalty platforms, contests, sharing programs, and referrals also create authenticity and goodwill. You gain awareness from being so generous, and you instill stronger loyalty in your current customers.

Here are our top 12picks for generosity and inventiveness…

Contests

One of the most fun contests of 2015 (though it’s been ongoing for a few years) is Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” promotion. The chip (or crisp!) company has customers submit ideas for flavors, and the winner is selected by popular vote. While it just sounds fun to make up a new flavor, the contest comes with a massive prize: $1 million or 1% of the sales profits from the first year, whichever is larger. This year, the winning flavor was “Southern Biscuits and Gravy,” which beat out “Kettle Cooked Greektown Gyro,” “New York Reuben,” and “Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries.” And don’t feel too bad for these 3 runners-up: the creator of each still got $50,000.

The winner for Lay’s 2015 Do Us a Flavor contest.

Nordstrom has been promoting its brand advocacy and social commerce programs with a review submission contest. All users need to do is write a review, and they’re entered to win a $1,000 shopping spree at the upscale department store. Not bad!

Ellen Degeneres and her show, Ellen, are known for doing some fun giveaways. This year, one of their “12 Days of Giveaways” prizes is something basically everyone could use: a free five-year subscription to Netflix. The winner can then watch every holiday movie in existence, from Elf to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Bed, Bath, & Beyond has a decadent ongoing contest for soon-to-be newlyweds. Couples who’ve registered with the retailer can enter to win a honeymoon in the Bahamas, with all the perks included. Moreover, it’s not just one couple that wins big–20 couples will enjoy trips courtesy of Bed, Bath, & Beyond by next spring.

Olympus Camera’s loyalty program launched this year, and it’s been a massive success. Their platform doesn’t just give customers points for making purchases, but instead regularly rewards them for advocating for their brand. Shoppers are community members, who get points for submitting photos to Olympus’s visual commerce gallery, referring friends, writing reviews, and even just for celebrating their birthday. In the past year, Olympus’s American program has garnered over half a million members,

Olympus Camera’s rewards program gives customers loyalty points for a variety of actions.

Walgreens’ Balance Rewards have been a huge success this year, partially due to the program’s generosity. The real differentiator is that the drug store chain rewards customers for doing healthy things, like quitting smoking or tracking your steps and physical activity. It creates a more holistic customer experience and promotes the brand’s image as one of health and trust.

Sharing & Referrals

Google for Work’s referral program is notable simply because of the way it delivers rewards. Instead of giving a customer who makes referrals store credit or a percentage off their next purchase, as most companies do, Google directly deposits $15 in the customer’s bank account for every successful referral. Cha-ching.

Vivo Barefoot, a high-tech European athletic shoe brand, offers a similarly generous referral deal. For every successful referral, the new customer gets $15 off their purchase, but the referrer gets a whopping $35 gift card.